NEW YORK, NY – It’s been a tough sports week here in the NYC. Henrik Lundquist took a puck to the throat against the Carolina Hurricanes. He finished the game but he hasn’t played since. He’ll be out a minimum of three weeks and up to six weeks or more as he recovers and tries to ensure that a blood vessel in his neck doesn’t explode.
In the meantime Cam Talbot will be seeing plenty of playing time in net. So far, we’ve seen mixed results. While the Rangers have won a few games, Talbot has given up goals at an alarming clip. The situation is such that the Blueshirts will have to score five goals per game to have any chance of winning.
What is not helping things is the poor play of some key players. My feelings about Tanner Glass have been well documented on this site. And he’s done nothing to prove me wrong but unfortunately he’s no longer the team’ worst player. That distinction goes to Martin St. Louis, as painful as it is for me to say. Marty has been awful. He has been extraordinarily weak on the puck, doesn’t seem to skate any more and was at fault for two of the Colorado Avalanche’s three goals last night (Tanner Glass was responsible for the third).
MSL is a first ballot Hall of Famer, which makes it especially hard to watch him get dispossessed with such ease and to watch him get beat to loose pucks by players with barely a tenth of his speed and skill. I’m hoping he turns things around down the stretch. He’s got too much skill to continue to play the way he has. But my fear is that the years are catching up with him.
If MSL gets his groove back and the Rangers Lundquist returns sooner than later, there should be time for another deep playoff push.
On the hardwood, Carmelo Anthony pretty much confirmed what everybody suspected; he was playing for the All Star game and will shut it down with season-ending surgery… after the break.
With 29 games left, you have to think the Carmelo-less Knickerbockers will have one win in them. And that one win would put Junoir Blaber on the losing end of a friendly wager between MTM contributors. Look for Melo Anthony to play about five minutes in the NBA All-Star Game before putting this one in the books.
In sadder news as touched upon by FSA yesterday, Anthony Mason suffered a heart attack and is in some dire straits. Mason was the embodiment of the Pat Riley-led mid-90’s New York Knicks that played a tough-as-nails brand of basketball.
As a middle-schooler watching those Knicks teams, I thought basketball was meant to be as physical as football or hockey. It took a long time for me to realize that flagrant fouls were frowned upon in the NBA.
Anthony Mason played a huge part in developing the identity of a Knicks team that might have had a few more shots at a title if it weren’t for some guy named Michael in Chicago. Lets hope for a full and speedy recovery for a New York Knicks legend.
Come back tomorrow for a legend in Belmont Bathrooms, Junoir Blaber.
